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Man on the Clapham Omnibus
- seanhunter 3y ago"Man on the Clapham Omnibus" is (outdated) legal jargon for the average person, but as someone who used to live in Clapham and has lived to see its gentrification this expression now has an ironic twist. People who can afford to live in Clapham now are somewhat unlikely to take the bus, so the Clapham omnibus nowdays would probably be populated by people from Brixton or Balham (significantly poorer areas) going through Clapham on their way North into London. This seems symbolic of the increasing disparity of wealth and income and the coresponding decline in social mobility that has happened in the UK in the 20 years since I lived there.
- dannyobrien 3y agoThis was true in the Nineties, when I lived there.
- seanhunter 3y agoYes, but even more so now. When I lived there I really saw the change. My friend lived in a musicians' shared apartment above an off-license on Abbeyville Road just when the estate agents invented the whole "Abbeyville Village" thing. Off-license became a Cafe Rouge. Chinese Takeaway across the street became a Pizza Express[1]. Hardware store became a wine bar. Rent went up like 2 or 3x so they had to move. I lived near the old town which was fun because we used to see Vivian Westwood riding around like a crazy person on her bicycle. My apartment doubled in value so I sold and moved closer to Stockwell where it was cheaper/more sketchy. [1] For the US folks this is fancier than it sounds. In the 90s it was especially.